MOTORISTS are being urged to follow their common sense and not Google Maps after a car went down an icy lane and ended up in a ditch. 

The driver was trying to get to the Tesco at the Middlebrook and followed directions down High Rid Lane after coming down Old Kiln Lane. 

Firefighters had to attend this evening and winched the car, which had two women and an 18-month-old baby inside, out of the ditch. 

James Bracegirdle, from Horwich Fire Station, said the women were not from the area but had been at the university. 

He said they went as far as they could down the icy lane before ending up in the ditch and up to the wheels in water, ice and mud.

Mr Bracegirdle said: "The advice is to use common sense rather than Google Maps. If you are going down a country road it is not going to take you to the Middlebrook."

The Fiat was winched out of the ditch and no-one was injured. 

Firefighters turned the car around and the vehicle was then able to drive off from the scene.